Published on: 11/22/2024 – 4:00 p.m.Amended: 11/22/2024 – 3:58 p.m.

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Chiba, 19, skating to Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” earned a score of 70.86 to edge American Amber Glenn by 0.02 points.

Rion Sumiyoshi, also of Japan, was less than half a point behind third place.

On the men’s side, Sato, 20, performed a near-flawless routine en route to a season’s best time of 98.75.

That gave him a five-point lead over Kazakh Mikhail Shaidorov heading into Saturday’s free skate.

France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, the defending champion in Chongqing, came third with 91.22, after the world bronze medalist completed his iconic backflip but fell while attempting a quadruple jump.

China’s Jin Boyang, a double bronze medalist at the World Championships, is in sixth place after scoring 83.66 in front of his home crowd.

In ice dancing, European champions and real Italian couples Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri finished first, leading by three points ahead of Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, followed by Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the United States in third place .

Building on their 84.84 points ahead of Saturday’s free skate, the Italian duo look set to improve on their second place finish at the French Grand Prix earlier in November.

In the pairs event, Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii, also Italians, produced a dazzling performance to take first place.

They are ahead of Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, while Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada are third.

Both German men were on course for a huge score before Volodin inexplicably fell during a step sequence.

The Cup of China is the final Grand Prix of the 2024/25 series, representing the last chance for skaters to qualify for the December final in Grenoble.

© 2024 AFP